In February I may have inadverdantly used some data in an airport resulting in a bill for around £260.

I disputed this bill on the grounds that a safety buffer should have been on my account.

TM claim I removed the safety buffer when I upgraded however I dispute this.

In an email confirmation I received when I upgraded, there is no mention of the safety buffer at all.

Having reached deadlock, I escalated the matter to the Ombudsman.

During the course of my complaint, TM terminated my contract as the oustanding balance remained unpaid.

I had offered to pay any bills other than that which was disputed

however TM ignored this and the total they now claim I owe is in the region of £1600.

The Ombudsman have ruled in favour of TM.

They say that they cannot prove one way or another whether I removed the safety buffer while upgrading however they think it is more likely that I did.

They have offered no rationale for this.

I have stated that TM's actions in terminating the contract and billing me for the outstanding value while a bill is under dispute goes against the spirt of offering a resolution service and in fact undermines it. The Ombudsman accept this but have no powers to do anything about it.

TM claim their records show I removed the safety buffer.

An online order confirmation appears to show this however this was never sent to me and the email confirmation does not mention it at all.

There is a data cap which applies to roaming outside the EU.

Even without the safety buffer, I do not believe I have ever opted out of this.

Finally, TM's mobile states the following:

"If you’re not on a Capped contract or have removed your safety buffer

We’ll still protect you with a high-usage limit!to stop you running up unexpectedly high bills.

This limit varies per tariff but could be !up to! 4 times the cost of your monthly tariff.

If you reach this high-usage limit you won’t be able to use your phone until you make a payment.

Also, there’s a limit on how much you can spend on data abroad – to help you avoid a scary bill when you get home.

You can spend up to £40 on data, but! after that we’ll bar your device, so you don’t rack up any more charges.

If this happens, you can call us on 4455 from your Tesco Mobile phone, or call our automated payment line free on 4488 and once you’ve made a payment you can use your phone again within 2 hours. If you’re on a tariff with a safety buffer!then you can protect what you spend by choosing a safety buffer that’s right for you.

If you’re happy to spend more than £40 on data when you’re away, call us on 4455 before you go."

TM did not apply any bar on my phone after the £40 limit. I think it is clear from the above that, even if TM's contention that I had removed the safety buffer is correct, the bill should still not have exceded £40. The Ombudsman did not consider this final piece of information as it was not available to me at the time.

I am looking for advice on how to proceed.

My main concern here is removing adverse information from my credit file as soon as possible and obviously I have no intention of paying monies that I do not owe.

From what I can gather I may need to take the matter to court but this would also cost me money I would rather not spend.

Actual ombudsman or adjudicator? Because no matter what they say, there will be documentation somewhere that supports their claim. If they dont have it, then really the case would have been found in your favour.

Have you sent TM a SAR to get ALL info they hold on you so you can go through it with a fine comb?

It was Ombudsman: Communications. The Ombudsman report states: "TM say its records indicate that this option was selected at the point of sale; I have no reason to dispute this."

They have provided an order summary which says 'no safety buffer'. This differs from what was emailed to me.

I have not sent an SAR.

sar time!!

Okay, thank you, I will send this tomorrow.

I would also send a formal letter that puts the debt into dispute, so they should stop collection attempts while they try and sort it out. But going by your info so far, theyll likely just ignore it.